Freelance Writer | Traveler | Gelato Enthusiast

Menu

Amuse-Bouches from the Interwebz: July 19th through July 22nd

Here’s the latest list of stuff I found interesting on the interwebz, July 19th through July 22nd:

Please. Enough with the Pink ShitOkay, so this is about self-defense products targeted at women. And I'm simultaneously laughing as I read it (because it is incredibly funny and snarky and well-written), and getting increasingly furious (because it is incredibly insightful and true and well-written). I'd pull quotes from it to demonstrate my points, but that would be called plagiarism because I'd be quoting the entire article.

Just… Stop what you're doing and go read this. Right now. GO.

(I mean, open that article in a new window, and come back to finish reading this list when you’re done. Yeah. That.)

Portland’s 18 Most Iconic DishesThis is absolutely brilliant. Yes, there are seven gajillion amazing places to eat in Portland (I counted), but for those of us who are ovewhelmed easily this map features not just 18 of the best places to eat in the city – but the most iconic dishes to order.

It's an 18-stop tour through some of the best-known plates in Portland, dishes for which this city has become known (for better or worse, depending on your point of view), and I'm shocked and dismayed at how few of them I've actually sampled myself. I can, however, affirm the deliciousness of numbers 1, 3, 8, 12, and 15. All the other plates? I've got your number. Kind of literally.

(via @travelportland on Twitter)

The Week: July 20, 2012My friend Geraldine is a bit of a blogging rockstar, and I'm not just saying that to be nice. This is what happens to your daily pageviews when she links to your site.

(And you should totally subscribe to her blog, too, since she posts excellent round-ups of fun links like this one, as well as her own work that's often wonderfully snarky and always well-written.)

The last thing Italy needsThe "last thing Italy needs," as the sub-header says, is that "Silvio Berlusconi will probably run for prime minister for a seventh time."

OH FOR THE LOVE OF ZOD, SILVIO.

A survey quoted at the end of the article says 72% of respondents would never vote for Berlusconi again, and 53% of women who had voted for him in the past wouldn't vote for him again. I don't trust that those numbers are at all representative of Italians, who seem to have had no problem letting this cancer back into their system time and again just because he promises to cut taxes or some such nonsense.

If he really does run again – and I'd be shocked if he didn't – I really hope Italy rejects him this time. Resoundingly.

On An Endless SummerI have some pretty talented friends, y'all. In this case, I'm showing off that I know Miss Expatria, AKA Christine, AKA the woman behind this beautiful piece. It's a sweet look back at the summers of her youth that turns into a defiant reclamation of the summers of her now.

Creeque Alley – An AnalysisFor no reason I can determine, I got "Dream a Little Dream of Me" stuck in my head a week or so ago, which led me to download a greatest hits CD (is it still called a CD if it's downloaded? I digress) of the Mamas & the Papas. I'd worn out my cassette (yes, shut up) years ago.

What I'd forgotten about was this song, which was a favorite of mine back in high school when I first got the aforementioned cassette. I never knew all the words, and the ones I heard didn't make sense, but it's an infectious little ditty so I loved it.

Here, after all those years, is a line-by-line analysis of the song, which tells the story of the formation of the band itself. Delightful.

The 6 People You Need in Your CornerI love this, and instantly started thinking about who in my network fits into each of these six categories. Honestly, between three friends who were (and continue to be) instrumental in getting me from the "HOLY SHIT I JUST LOST MY JOB" stage of panic to my current "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" stage – I think I've got all six of these personalities covered.

Enormous hugs to Sara, Pam, and Katie. You ladies have been more important to me in the last couple of months than you may ever know.